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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29386248">I feel the gravity in between us</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neuqe/pseuds/Neuqe'>Neuqe</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, sleeping, they are in love</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 07:47:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,111</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29386248</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neuqe/pseuds/Neuqe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"Are you seriously reading a WikiHow article about how to stop hogging the covers?” </p>
<p>"Yes"</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Carlos Reyes/TK Strand</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>284</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Tarlos Valentine 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I feel the gravity in between us</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for tarlos valentine 2021 day 1 prompt of "babe please sharing is caring" + blanket hogging</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>”This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten,” TK declares as he takes yet another forkful of the chocolate cake that Carlos has baked for his birthday.</p>
<p>He cannot remember when someone would have baked an actual cake for his birthday. They celebrate everyone’s birthday at the firehouse, but usually those are bought from the supermarket and they taste and look exactly like they cost less than five dollars.</p>
<p>His dad has threatened to bake something every year, but after the year when he served the dairy, butter and sugar free cake, TK had banned him from birthday related baking.</p>
<p>“Seriously,” he continues, gesturing towards the almost empty plate with his fork, “this cake made me fall more in love with you and I didn’t know that was possible.”</p>
<p>Carlos shakes his head, clearly in amusement, as he bites down his smile. He looks delighted and pleased.  “I’m glad you like it.”</p>
<p>“Like is an understatement,” he remarks and reaches over the narrow kitchen island to press a quick kiss on his lips.</p>
<p>The cake tastes amazing, rich and sweet, and the texture is fluffy, but firm. It looked gorgeous too, as if it were straight rout of the high-end confectioneries of Manhattan. He had asked where he had bought it before Carlos admitted, rather timidly, that he had baked it from the scratch.</p>
<p>TK hadn’t been expecting anything other than the supermarket cake, and honestly, he thought his birthday would be just grouped together with the firehouse annual Christmas party. Being born in December usually meant that it got joined with Christmas celebrations and it didn’t get to be a separate thing. TK is fine with it. It bothered him more when he was a child, but now he doesn’t mind that much.</p>
<p>Hoping that one day would be about him feels like a dumb, childish and selfish wish. </p>
<p>Carlos had been uncharacteristically quiet about the upcoming birthday or any plans related to it, and TK had been almost convinced that he had forgotten the whole thing. It would have been fine if it were the case, but obviously, he hadn’t forgotten. Instead, he had gone all out.</p>
<p>TK knows he should have suspected something when Marjan had asked all slyly if he had any plans for his birthday when they all had been gathered around the firehouse dining table to eat the pathetic looking supermarket cake.</p>
<p>He had said no, and everyone had smiled like they knew something he didn’t, but he had brushed it off.</p>
<p>TK reaches scoop a forkful of the cake from Carlos’ plate, because his is almost empty, and he grins at him brightly. “Babe please, sharing is caring,” he chuckles.</p>
<p>Carlos rolls his eyes, but the fondness is too visible to make him seem even a tiny bit annoyed.</p>
<p>“You’re lucky I love you,” he mumbles. There is no heat behind his words, and he pushes the plate closer to TK.</p>
<p>It’s obviously meant to be a joke and his voice is light, but still TK is aware that it is the closest thing to the truth anyway. He feels lucky, incredibly so.</p>
<p>Carlos is a kind, caring and loving person in general and it is evident in the way he does his job and the way he treats people around him, and TK is fully aware that he would be lucky to get just a fraction of the love Carlos has to give, but the fact that he has decided that TK is worth of all of it makes it a whole another thing.</p>
<p>Lucky doesn’t even begin to cover it.</p>
<p>Privilege, maybe.</p>
<p>He has started to notice lately that the English language doesn’t have nearly enough words to describe what he is feeling for him. But that doesn’t stop him from trying.</p>
<p>“I know,” TK eventually replies, several beats too late it to be counted as banter anymore and the fondness in Carlos’ eyes just grows.</p>
<p>He does steal another forkful of his piece of cake and lets his gaze wonder around the small cabin.</p>
<p>Instead of forgetting his birthday, Carlos had rented a cabin for three days. It is a couple hours away from Austin, located near camping-area, and while the cabin is small, it is still objectively really nice and fancy for a log cabin.</p>
<p>He looks at the dark brown wooden walls and the shiny marble kitchen island. He tries his best not to think how much money he has spent on his surprise.</p>
<p>Carlos had also coordinated it so that they both have the three days off around his birthday, and he had listed his whole crew’s, and his dad’s help, to do it, several months in advance. TK guesses there are certain perks that his boyfriend gets along with his family like a house on fire.</p>
<p>Carlos yawns. He blinks a couple of times, before focusing his gaze back to him. He smiles and it is warm and genuine one, but TK can see the redness of his eyes and the dark circles below them. He looks exhausted, even though he is trying to hide it.</p>
<p>“You should go to sleep,” TK points out, softly, as he places the fork on his own plate.</p>
<p>“I’m fine,” he insists.</p>
<p>In his opinion, it is a small wonder Carlos hasn’t collapsed already. He had pulled an fourteen-hour shift with some over time on top of it. After that he had still driven them up to the cottage and cooked him a huge dinner. It’s a bit unclear to him where he found the time to bake the cake, but the point is, he knows that he is tired.</p>
<p>He would know it without having all the details. They have been together for year and a half, and TK likes to think that he can read him. Understand all the little cues from his facial expressions and behavior. At the moment, everything he picks on screams that he is fatigued.</p>
<p>“You look like you could pass out from exhaustion,” he remarks.</p>
<p>“It’s your birthday,” Carlos argues, a little flatly, but he is poorly attempting to repress yet another yawn.</p>
<p>“I’m aware,” he says, amusedly, as walks around the kitchen island and reaches to take his hand into his own. He presses a soft kiss on his knuckles. “All of this is really nice, and I love it, but it also pains me to see you so tired.”</p>
<p>He blinks slowly, but his smile is lopsided, but still full of adoration. “I wanted to do something special for you.”</p>
<p>TK remembers faintly that he had told him on his last birthday that his birthday rarely was a priority, always getting entangled to the preparations of the holiday season, and he had certainly not meant anything with it. But Carlos, being a strong contender for the title of most considerate person in the world, had hung on his words and decided to indulge him on his silly wish of having a proper birthday.</p>
<p>TK had snorted when they had picked up the keys of the cabin and the receptionist had frowned when she clarified that there would be no Christmas decorations, per request, but Carlos had just grinned at him.</p>
<p>“And it is,” he reassures, squeezing his hand slightly.</p>
<p>It makes his stomach flip as he thinks how much effort he has put into the whole thing, just so that he would feel loved and cared for.</p>
<p>“Maybe,” Carlos admits softly, “but going to sleep before eight wasn’t really part of the plan.”</p>
<p>Carlos lets go of his hand, but places both of his hands on his waist and pulls him closer. TK has no objections against that, and he loves the feeling of their bodies being pressed together. He loves the closeness of it, and it feels like the most natural thing in the world to be so up in each other’s personal space.</p>
<p>“Yeah, just one of the many perks of dating a first responder,” he deadpans, resting his other hand on his bicep.</p>
<p>Carlos huffs amusedly. “Because there are so many of them.”</p>
<p>“Our never matching schedules,” he offers. He lets his other hand run along his spine and settles it to hold the small of his back.</p>
<p>“Monthly hospital visits.”</p>
<p>TK glares at him. “They aren’t <em>monthly</em>.”</p>
<p>“Bi-monthly,” Carlos corrects himself with a shit-eating grin and it makes his nose scrunch, and it is one of the most adorable things TK has ever witnessed.</p>
<p>“Constant fear and worry,” he adds.</p>
<p>He knows he should be almost used to it. Since early childhood, he has had to learn to live with the fact that one day his dad might not make it to home, and now almost everyone he loves and considers family risks their lives on daily basis to help others.</p>
<p>He should be used to it, but the truth is that he isn’t. The fear and worry still sometimes knock him off his feet and take over every part of his body, but he can cope with it. Most of the time. Although, he loathes the fact that his standards for a good day have been lowered to the simple rule of if they both make it home in one piece, it’s a good day.</p>
<p>Carlos nods and presses a soft kiss on his forehead. He doesn’t immediately pull away. “The way you smell like smoke,” he murmurs against his skin.</p>
<p>TK lets out a surprised laugh and the ghost of his kiss still lingers right above his eyebrows when he pulls away. “I could always shower again.”</p>
<p>He has gotten into the habit of showering at the firehouse when the shift ends, because Carlos does have a point about the smell hazards. Most of the time he reeks after the shift and he had rinsed his skin today too, and the shift hadn’t been terrible. Only one fire at the 24-hour diner when their deep fryer had caught on fire, but that was hours ago.</p>
<p>“You’ve smelled like it since the day we met,” he points out, “I’m not sure a shower is going to help.”</p>
<p>“Hey,” TK protests, but he doesn’t bother to hide his grin.</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t change any of it for anything,” he says under his breath, “apart from fearing for your life.”</p>
<p>Over the couple of years, he has known Carlos, he has noticed that certain things happen when he gets thoroughly exhausted. His accent becomes thicker and he becomes sappier than usually and he starts to lack a certain filter. It’s mostly just amusing and endearing, and he loves that side of Carlos just as much as any other, but he also wants to take care of him.</p>
<p>It makes a certain kind of knot of uneasiness to form in his stomach knowing that he is burning the candle from both ends for him.</p>
<p>“I know, me neither,” TK reassures, softly, but pushes him a little backwards, “but seriously, you should go to bed. And you don’t even have to go alone.”</p>
<p>He is also a little weary after the shift. His muscles are achy, and he wouldn’t mind sleeping around the clock. And as always, seeing Carlos yawn, makes him sleepy, too.</p>
<p>“Your pickup lines are terrible,” he retorts, but takes a couple steps backwards towards the bedroom.</p>
<p>TK snorts. “They worked well enough on you.”</p>
<p>He still keeps walking backwards, his left shoulder only slightly bumping against the doorframe as he enters the bedroom. “They didn’t. I didn’t need pick-up lines, it was that damn smile.”</p>
<p>He ought to add getting complimented by him to the list of things he should be already gotten used to, because Carlos does it a lot. It’s a casual comment here and there, and it definitely isn’t always about his looks, but still no matter how many times he hears them, they always make his stomach twist in a best way possible.</p>
<p>Even now, the bubbling feeling of happiness settles into his chest and his lips are curling into a smile, and he knows it’s giving away everything he is currently feeling. The happiness and adoration mixing into together and spilling out as a soft and bright smile.</p>
<p>“That’s the one,” Carlos whispers, contently and almost in awe, and few seconds later his fist is full of the soft fabric of TK’s grey sweatshirt and he is pulling him close again.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” TK finds himself saying, but he cannot tear his gaze away from his lips and judging by the glint in his brown eyes, he has noticed it too, despite the sleep deprivation.</p>
<p>Sometimes, most of the time really, it is like electricity humming underneath his skin when Carlos looks at him. It feels like it now, too, and while they established very early into their acquittance that they are into each other. It was painfully obvious from the way they glanced each other while dancing and from the way they ended up hooking up within an hour.</p>
<p>Still, TK cannot help but marvel the that the feeling of sparks and electricity is still there, but it is still different. All the rush and fumbling are gone because there is more certainness now, of that the other is not going to disappear and that any of the lingering touches would be the last ones.</p>
<p>Now, every moment is like a small declaration of love.</p>
<p>He tugs the hem of Carlos’ shirt and gently yanks it upwards and helps him to undress it and Carlos helps him to get rid of his sweatshirt and tosses it somewhere on the floor. Suddenly, his lips are on his again, and the kiss is soft, but it still makes TK’s heart beat faster and toes curl up with want.</p>
<p>He runs his hands along his arms and squeezes his left forearm slightly. “Mmh, not when you’re that tired,” TK mumbles against his lips.</p>
<p>He knows where it is heading unless he breaks it off, and while he wants to, it still defeats the whole purpose of his grand plan of Carlos getting enough sleep.</p>
<p>Carlos immediately takes a step back, like he always does when he lets him know he is not up for something, and his smile is mischievous, but still a little flustered. “I’d not fall asleep on you,” he adds, as he takes off his sweatpants, but this time he folds them neatly and picks up their shirts from the floor.</p>
<p>“You have,” TK points out, kindly, as he gets rid of his own pants, “and you probably would now, too.”</p>
<p>Since their schedules don’t always match, they tend to take up any opportunity that arises, but a couple of times, after double digit shifts, Carlos has fallen asleep before they have even properly started, and it’s no big deal. TK knows he has fallen asleep on him too.</p>
<p>He mostly finds it endearing, but it also means to him that Carlos trusts him enough and is comfortable enough to fall asleep without a second thought to it.</p>
<p>Carlos just hums amusedly as a response and gets into the way too huge bed.</p>
<p>The bedroom is tiny, and the bed takes a ridiculously big part of it, but he is surprised to find it to be incredibly soft and comfortable. Still, as TK sits on the bed, he pushes his pillow closer to his because he is not sleeping twenty inches away from him.</p>
<p>He settles down, lying right next to him and Carlos immediately drapes one arm over him, resting it on his chest and nuzzling his shoulder. TK’s hand fumbles a little until it finds Carlos’s other hand and curls his fingers around his.</p>
<p>“I’m--,” Carlos starts, quietly, but TK cuts him immediately off.</p>
<p>“Don’t you dare apologize again,” he says, softly. “This is all I ever wanted and it’s perfect.”</p>
<p>He runs his fingers along his forearm. He hopes that he knows that he doesn’t mean the cabin or any of it, but just that he gets to spend his birthday with him.</p>
<p>Twenty-year-old TK would have laughed if someone would have told him that his best birthday would be in rural Texas, but there he is, more content than ever.</p>
<p>“How did you know what I was going to say?”</p>
<p>He glances at him. “I can hear you think.”</p>
<p>Carlos exhales softly and TK can feel his breath against his bicep. “I just wanted to do something nice for you. You deserve all of it and more.”</p>
<p>It has been a long process to learn that he deserves nice things and to be loved, because of everything and despite of everything. He has Carlos to remind him about it occasionally, but still he cannot help but wonder what he has done to end up with more love than he could have imagined a couple of years ago.</p>
<p>He turns his head to press a gentle kiss on his temple. “Why this place?”</p>
<p>TK has wondered about it since the moment they arrived. He has never heard about the place before and albeit, his knowledge of anything about Texas outside of Austin is a little wobbly, but the whole place seems to be quiet and has a little hole-in-the-wall feeling to it, like you would have to know about its existence to find it.</p>
<p>“It’s a dumb story,” he murmurs against his shoulders.</p>
<p>“I wanna hear all of your dumb stories.”</p>
<p>Carlos shifts a little. “We came here with my family when I was maybe thirteen,” he starts, slowly and absentmindedly tracing some sort of pattern against his ribs. “I loved this place, and we had great time, but it still filled me with dread ‘cause the place was full of happy couples and families, and I was pretty convinced at that age that I couldn’t ever have any of that on my own.”</p>
<p>His heart breaks a little as he listens to him. He meant his words that he wants to hear all of his stories, dumb or not, but now he regrets a little of ever asking because he knows that his coming out process hasn’t always been the smoothest and deep south hasn’t been the most forgiving place for him to live and grow up.</p>
<p>“But,” Carlos continues, “I had this dream that one day I’d bring here someone I’d love.”</p>
<p>TK breath almost hitches in his throat. It’s almost too much, but in the best way possible. To know that he has had that idea in his head for years and that he decided that he would be worthy of being a part of that. It makes his heart soar.</p>
<p>“I did try to warn you it was dumb,” he mumbles, taking his silence in the wrong way.</p>
<p>“It’s not dumb,” he rushes to say, “it’s actually really sweet.”</p>
<p>It’s not the most eloquent response, but it’s too difficult to pinpoint anything he is currently feeling or to put them into comprehensible words that would reflect any of the love he has for him.</p>
<p>“Yeah, well, you’re the only one I’ve brought here, so there is that too,” he adds, his gaze focused on his jawline, but he looks up to his eyes too, with the softest of smiles.</p>
<p>He is convinced his heart is going to burst. “Thank you for sharing it with me,” he whispers, right below his ear, “and for including me in it.”</p>
<p>They lay there for a moment, in silence, only listening the steady breathing of each other’s, but eventually TK sits up to reach the corner of the duvet and tries to settle it so that it covers both of their bodies.</p>
<p>“Are you going to hog all the blankets again?”</p>
<p>Carlos has closed his eyes already, but his voice is light and teasing.</p>
<p>“I don’t hog ‘em.”</p>
<p>He sputters out a laugh, and it’s warm, happy and genuine, and TK loves to hear that particular laugh.</p>
<p>“Oh, so I’ve been sleeping without one willingly for a year and half,” Carlos asks, quizzically, but it looks like another fit of laughter could erupt from him at any given moment.</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“You always steal the blankets, even if there are two,” Carlos explains, sounding almost fond as he looks at him.</p>
<p>“I don’t?”</p>
<p>TK hates how it sounds like a question to his own ears, too. He is aware that he moves a lot in his sleep, and his ex-boyfriends have given him so much shit about it, which is also why he tried to avoid staying the night when he started seeing Carlos.</p>
<p>Nothing is more charming than elbowing significant other in their sleep or kicking their shins. Still, Carlos has never said anything about the way he sleeps.</p>
<p>He knows that their bed is a goddamn mess every time they wake up, the blankets are usually disregarded somewhere, and they are not in the same positions as they fell asleep to, but he had no idea that he was the main cause of it.</p>
<p>“Mhm, you do,” Carlos hums, his eyes closing again.</p>
<p>TK shoots perplexed glance at him. “Why haven’t you woken me up?”</p>
<p>He is a little more than appalled that apparently he has been doing it since the beginning of their relationship, but he is only hearing about it now.</p>
<p>Carlos opens one of his eyes, squeezing the other one shut. “Yeah, wonder why I haven’t woken up my boyfriend, who on regular basis pulls twenty-four-hour shifts,” he mumbles, but there is nothing but kindness in his voice.</p>
<p>“You could have,” he argues, flatly.</p>
<p>“I’ve tried to steal them back sometimes,” Carlos admits, his gaze landing back to him, and his eyes are gleaming. “But there’s no point. You just steal ‘em back. I’ve extra blankets, too, but there is no limit to how many blankets you hog in a night.”</p>
<p>Not for the first time around Carlos, TK finds himself to be a little loss for words. This time it is because of completely different reasons, he is a little too stunned and confused to talk.</p>
<p>“The way you clutch to them and collect them is almost adorable,” he adds with a low chuckle. </p>
<p>“So, every time you have said you sleep better when I’m there with you has been a blatant lie?”</p>
<p>He almost wants to laugh. It’s a bit more than ridiculous that he is only learning about his own nocturnal habits now, and Carlos has told him multiple times that he sleeps more soundly and deeply, that he feels <em>safe</em>, when he is around, and he has always found that a little more than endearing, but now it feels impossible to wrap his head around that it would be anywhere near the truth.</p>
<p>“Nope.”</p>
<p>“You really expect me to believe that the best sleep of your life happens without blankets?”</p>
<p>Carlos blinks, but the look he gives him is soft and laced equally with love and fondness. Still, he gently pokes him in between his ribs. “Am I in the habit of lying to you?”</p>
<p>“No.”</p>
<p>“Then there’s your answer,” he replies, easily and effortlessly, as if he has accepted the fate of sleeping without any blankets, ever.</p>
<p>TK grunts and picks up his phone from the nightstand and starts typing.</p>
<p>“Are you seriously reading a WikiHow article about how to stop hogging the covers?” Carlos questions, as he peaks the article he started suddenly to browse through.</p>
<p>“Yes.”</p>
<p>He cannot put his finger to what actually bothers him about this small revelation so much. The unnamed feeling in his chest grows and it starts to resemble something similar to guilt, even though some logical part of his brain is telling him that there is no reason to feel that way.</p>
<p>He can admit that it makes him uneasy to know that Carlos has stayed silent about it for so long, especially when it must have affected the way he sleeps, too.</p>
<p>Carlos chuckles, softly. “It’s not that big of a deal, Ty,” he whispers, pressing a kiss on his shoulder.</p>
<p>“Apparently we could sleep separately,” he reads aloud as he scrolls through the surprisingly long article.</p>
<p>“Out of question,” Carlos replies, without missing a beat.</p>
<p>He huffs in some sort of agreement. It’s not the solution he would be eager to try any time soon, but he wants to find something tangible to make the uneasiness in his heart to go away.</p>
<p>“Somehow trap the covers underneath the mattress, smaller bed, bigger blankets--,” he continues to slowly read as he makes through the list, until Carlos gently yanks the phone away from his hand and places it face down on his chest.</p>
<p>“We don’t need to do any of that,” he reminds, “I sleep perfectly fine. You cling like an octopus and you’re like a walking radiator, I don’t need a blanket. And above all, I like sleeping with you.”</p>
<p>It’s a tiny confession, but he sounds sure of it and there is genuine fondness in the way he says it, and he cannot help but believe that he means it.</p>
<p>TK loves the way they sleep. There is so much closeness in it. Their bed is pretty wide, but every time he wakes up, they are close and touching each other, in one way or another. A hand resting on a thigh, fingers against hip, face pressed against shoulder blade, entangled legs and arms.</p>
<p>He is pretty convinced there are no moments when they are not touching when sleeping. He sort of likes that. That they drift towards other, even when they are completely unaware of it. They move in their sleep. Carlos always falls asleep on his side but ends up lying on his back. He moves around a lot more, but the fact that they always wake up pressed together, means that they move <em>together</em>.</p>
<p>When the other moves, the other follows. Invisible string connecting them in their dreams. Like magnets pulling each other in.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier,” Carlos continues to fill in the silence, “I knew you’d get stuck in that beautiful mind of yours about it, but I didn’t know it’d bother you this much.”</p>
<p>There is a question hidden, and he knows he is giving him the space not to answer, but he wants to.</p>
<p>TK groans, quietly and softly. He places the phone back on the nightstand and rubs his own face. “It’s just that—you simply decided to put up with it,” he tries to clarify, still trying to make sense of the emotions that keep bumping against each other inside of him, “instead of telling me to do something about it.”</p>
<p>He knows that he cannot control what he does in his sleep, but he would still like to try and make it better.</p>
<p>“I get that, but sayin’ that I’m putting up with it makes it sound too negative,” he says, exhaustion leaking back into his voice just slightly, “and I’d have told you if truly bothered me, but it doesn’t.”</p>
<p>“Yeah.”</p>
<p>He strokes his side, in slow moments, with his thumb. It sends small shivers along his spine. TK glances back at him, but his eyes are closed again. “I love you and I’ll gladly sleep without a blanket for rest of my life, it’s a small price to pay.”</p>
<p>Silence follows, and TK can feel how he tenses up slightly next to him. It’s a small change, but he knows him well enough to spot the difference.</p>
<p>“That’s pretty much wedding vow material already,” TK jokes, planting another kiss on his forehead because he wants him to know it is okay, and that he is not freaking out about any mentions of their shared future, and that he can say stuff like that to him.</p>
<p>That he wants to hear it.</p>
<p>Some of the tension immediately leaves his body when he pulls away from the kiss.</p>
<p>“I know,” he slurs, sleepily. “I should write it down.”</p>
<p>“Height of romance.”</p>
<p>He laughs, even though he manages to make it sound tired too, but it is still a beautiful sound. “Damn right it is.”</p>
<p>“I’m gonna buy a bigger duvet when we get home,” TK declares.</p>
<p>“You don’t have to.”</p>
<p>“No, but I want to.”</p>
<p>It might not help anything, and Carlos does seem pretty content with their current arrangements, but he still needs to do something. To try, at least, even if it is something as small as blanket hogging.</p>
<p>Carlos opens his eyes again, clearly fighting off the sleep. “Promise something.”</p>
<p>He is a little surprised by his words, but he cranes his neck on the pillow so that he can get a better look at his face. “Anything.”</p>
<p>“Don’t start to overthink it, the way you sleep isn’t something you should actively think about. You’ll only lose sleep,” he tells him.</p>
<p>TK knows he has a point. It’s definitely an easy rabbit hole to fall in, and to become too self-conscious about every moment and not being able to relax and just be. Maybe he should take Carlos’ word for it.</p>
<p>“I’ll promise I’ll try my best to get over the fact that I’ve forced you to freeze your ass every night for over a year.”</p>
<p>Carlos’ eyes are shut, but the grin that forms on his lips is bright and brilliant. “We live in Texas, it’s hot and humid most of the time, my ass is fine.”</p>
<p>“It is.”</p>
<p>He laughs again, mostly against his fluffy pillow. “How did we end up having this conversation?”</p>
<p>“About us, the blankets, the future or the future of our blankets?” TK asks, deadpan, just to mess with his sleep deprived brain.</p>
<p>“Any of it?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know, you started it," he tells him, amusement shining in his soft voice.</p>
<p>“I’m too tired,” he half-slurs, but the smile still lingers on his lips.</p>
<p>“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” TK points out, kindly, and moves his other hand to run through Carlos’ hair, massaging his scalp soothingly.</p>
<p>“You’re right,” he breathes out, and TK can hear the smirk in his voice, “just this once.”</p>
<p>He laughs quietly, trying not to stir him any more than necessary, and he thinks he might have already fallen asleep, and he almost startles when he hears his voice again.</p>
<p>“Ty?”</p>
<p>“Yeah?”</p>
<p>“I don’t need any blankets, just need you.”</p>
<p>He would have expected his voice to be light, teasing and joking, but it sounds surprisingly sincere and like it half-accidently escapes away from his exhausted mind, but it sounds still so goddamn sincere that it makes TK’s heart flutter.</p>
<p>“Smooth,” he remarks, quietly, unsure what to do with all the happiness that keeps bubbling inside of him, but the only reply he gets is the quiet and steady breathing.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I've no excuse for this, but I hope you liked it! The title is once again borrowed from temporary love by ben platt. All the mistakes are mine.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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